Kinesisk PMI fra Markit skuffer i december – læs hele meddelelsen her
Operating conditions faced by Chinese goods producers continued to deteriorate in December.
Production declined for the seventh time in the past eight months, driven in part by a further fall in total new work. Data suggested that client demand was weak both at home and abroad, with new export business falling for the first time in three months in December. As a result, manufacturers continued to trim their staff numbers and reduce their purchasing activity in line with lower production requirements.
Meanwhile, deflationary pressures persisted, as highlighted by further marked declines in both input costs and selling prices. Adjusted for seasonal factors, the Purchasing Managers’ Index™ (PMI™) – a composite indicator designed to provide a single-figure snapshot of operating conditions in the manufacturing economy – registered below the neutral 50.0 value at 48.2 in December, down from 48.6 in the previous month. Business conditions have now worsened in each of the past 10 months.
That said, the latest deterioration was modest overall. A renewed contraction of manufacturing output weighed on the headline index reading in December. Although the rate of reduction was modest overall, it was the seventh time in the past eight months that production has fallen, and contrasted with a stabilisation in November. Anecdotal evidence suggested that relatively weak market conditions and reduced client demand had prompted firms to cut output in the latest survey period.
Indeed, total new business declined again in December, and at a similarly modest rate to those seen in the prior two months. Data suggested that softer domestic and international demand led to lower overall new work, with new export business also falling in December. Furthermore, this was the first time that new work from overseas had fallen since September. Lower output requirements underpinned a further fall in purchasing activity in December.
Moreover, the rate of contraction quickened slightly since November and was marked overall. As a result, stocks of inputs also declined over the month, while fewer sales led to a slight accumulation of stocks of finished goods
